Voter rights group sues Florida officials over election reform

MIAMI -- A Florida voter rights group sued state officials Wednesday, warning that parts of an election reform law could return the state to its ''Jim Crow'' past.

The plaintiffs object to a list of voter responsibilities that will be posted at polling places along with a list of voter rights. They said the signs amount to literacy tests and would discourage minority voters.

Signs will direct voters, among other things, to ''study and know candidates and issues,'' ''bring proper identification to the polling station'' and check their completed ballots for accuracy.

''We believe that the voter responsibilities section of that act is a step so far backward as to be a literacy test,'' said JoNel Newman, a lawyer with the Florida Equal Voting Rights Project, a project of the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida.

Lawmakers overhauled the state's election laws last spring in the wake of the disputed presidential election. Florida's voting system endured intense scrutiny after a razor-thin election forced a recount and gave George W. Bush the presidency over Al Gore.

Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris and Monroe County Elections Supervisor Harry Sawyer Jr. are named as defendants in the lawsuit. The group, called the Florida Voters League, Inc., filed the suit on behalf of Charles Major Jr., a black voting-rights activist from Key West. Major said in a statement: ''this legislation makes it worse.''

Backers of the lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court, want to halt the implementation of the measures. They said it would violate the Voting Rights Act of 1965, outlawing requirements that voters must show the ''ability to read, write, understand or interpret any matter,'' or demonstrate ''knowledge of any particular subject.''

Newman said the signs have ''an incredible potential to deter eligible voters from voting.'' Voters and poll workers might interpret the signs to mean voters must meet the requirements to cast a ballot.